Shikongo orders police to deal with Rundu schoolboy gangs
Kenya KamboweRundu
Following reports of schoolboy gangs terrorising Rundu residents, police chief inspector-general Joseph Shikongo last week ordered police in the Kavango East Region to engage in robust operations to tackle the high crime rate in the town.Speaking during a stakeholder meeting last Friday, he said: “I will go and brief the members and we will be on the ground. This will not only be for today when the inspector-general is here, but I want constant and consistent members on the ground.
“We are going to get people from the offices to go and join the operation until the situation [in] Rundu has improved”.
Namibian Sun recently reported that Rundu has become a hotbed of criminal activity, with gangs of young boys robbing residents of their valuables, while those found with cheap phones are asked to ‘eat’ them. Those who resist the gangsters’ demands or fight them risk being stabbed. These teenagers, aged between 13 and 18, are said to be running the streets of the riverside town.
It is alleged that some of the gangs’ victims have even been police officers.
Cooperate, or else
Most of these attacks happen late at night when patrons of bars and nightclubs, some of them intoxicated, try to make their way home.
At the crux of it all is a lust for smartphones and other valuable gadgets, which the juveniles steal and sell for a quick buck.
According to a Rundu resident, the only way to avoid being attacked is to cooperate.
“I tell you now, when those boys find you, don’t try to run or fight them because you will not know how many there are, as some will be hiding. I suggest you cooperate and give them whatever they want because you don’t want to be beaten up, stabbed and still lose your valuables,” the man said.
“The sad part is that if they find you with a ‘tamagotchi’ [a cheap phone], they will tell you that people should not walk around with such cheap phones before they take it from you, tell you to open your mouth and then [force] it down your throat.”
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Following reports of schoolboy gangs terrorising Rundu residents, police chief inspector-general Joseph Shikongo last week ordered police in the Kavango East Region to engage in robust operations to tackle the high crime rate in the town.Speaking during a stakeholder meeting last Friday, he said: “I will go and brief the members and we will be on the ground. This will not only be for today when the inspector-general is here, but I want constant and consistent members on the ground.
“We are going to get people from the offices to go and join the operation until the situation [in] Rundu has improved”.
Namibian Sun recently reported that Rundu has become a hotbed of criminal activity, with gangs of young boys robbing residents of their valuables, while those found with cheap phones are asked to ‘eat’ them. Those who resist the gangsters’ demands or fight them risk being stabbed. These teenagers, aged between 13 and 18, are said to be running the streets of the riverside town.
It is alleged that some of the gangs’ victims have even been police officers.
Cooperate, or else
Most of these attacks happen late at night when patrons of bars and nightclubs, some of them intoxicated, try to make their way home.
At the crux of it all is a lust for smartphones and other valuable gadgets, which the juveniles steal and sell for a quick buck.
According to a Rundu resident, the only way to avoid being attacked is to cooperate.
“I tell you now, when those boys find you, don’t try to run or fight them because you will not know how many there are, as some will be hiding. I suggest you cooperate and give them whatever they want because you don’t want to be beaten up, stabbed and still lose your valuables,” the man said.
“The sad part is that if they find you with a ‘tamagotchi’ [a cheap phone], they will tell you that people should not walk around with such cheap phones before they take it from you, tell you to open your mouth and then [force] it down your throat.”
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